An Album of Memories
by dreamsweetmydear
Summary: A collection of moments from Kenshin and Kaoru's married life. Snapshot Ten: Kaoru gives birth to her first child on the day of a festival. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Snapshot One

**From the author's desk:** Hello darlings! I know I haven't been very good with updating for the last...year?...or so. I'm very sorry! (bows) But for those of you interested in my writing, here's a collection of one-shots that I'm working on for the **10 Snuggles** community on Livejournal. If you're interested in doing your own collection, I suggest you checkthem out! But from me, here you'll have a small series of one-shots revolving around Kenshin and Kaoru's married life. I hope you enjoy them!

**Disclaimer:** _Rurouni Kenshin_ is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and his associates. Plus, if I owned this series, that would mean that Iwrote the series, which means I would have made Kenshin and Kaoru finally smooch in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I didn't write the wonderful series, and so they don't smooch in the last volume as I would have liked. Plus, I'd be rolling in dough instead of being a flat broke first-year college student! So there you have it. I don't own the series (except on DVDs), so you can't sue me!

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**_An Album of Memories_**  
captured by **_IceAngelKaoru_**

_**

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_**Snapshot: One  
Label: Craving Repose  
Note: A late, sleepless night during Kaoru's pregnancy.**_

Kaoru groaned inwardly as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position on the futon. Unfortunately for her, her gradually swelling stomach was being uncooperative with the rest of her body.

She wanted to cry and scream and kick at something. Hell, she was so cranky she wanted to wake her husband up, just so that she and the growing baby inside of her weren't the only ones awake at the unholy hour of three in the morning…_for the fourth day in a row_.

But she didn't have the heart to torture her Kenshin like that.

She turned onto her side, so that she was facing him and her bulging tummy was nestled comfortably between the two of them, her blue eyes observing the man sleeping next to her.

He was beautiful to watch at night.

His face was relaxed, and a small, contented smile graced his lips. She was thankful that she didn't have a husband who snored at night. His pale skin glowed in the moonlight, making him look like someone from another world. His red hair was tinted in the silver glow of the moonbeams pouring through the open window, and spilled like liquid fire around his head.

His hair was down to his shoulders now, she noted.

She smiled, and reached over to trace the planes of his face with her fingers. She ran a hand through his silken-scarlet hair, marveling to herself at how soft the locks were. From his hair, her hand moved to his forehead, to his eyebrows relaxed in sleep, to the lids of closed violet eyes, to his nose, to his scarred left cheek which felt smooth under her fingertips, to…

She hesitated, feeling a slight blush creep into her cheeks at the thought of touching his lips. It didn't matter that they were married, it didn't matter that she had seen him in less than a sheet -- and, gods above, her husband looked _very_ yummy in less than a sheet. No, that wasn't it at all.

She was just naturally shy around him when it came to touching his mouth like that. Her heart always began to flutter just a little faster, and her knees always felt like jelly when it came to the thought of his lips on the sensitive pads of her fingertips.

Which is why she gave a surprised gasp when she felt his gentle yet strong hand light grab her wrist as he raised his head to lay his mouth in a searing kiss on the tips of her middle and index finger, and to feel him gently nibble on them as well.

And then she blushed harder when a pair of glowing amethyst jewels gazed at her while his mouth worked strange, sensuous magic on her hand, sending pleasurable jolts of electricity down her spine.

"Couldn't sleep again?" he questioned her, his voice soft, soothing, and sweet.

She stared at him, and shyly shook her head no. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

He smiled. "It's rather hard to stay asleep when a certain someone kicks your stomach."

She blushed again, understanding that the placement of her tummy gave the baby easy access to kicking it's father. "Sorry. But he won't sleep! And he's keeping me awake, when all _I_ want to do is sleep!"

She could feel her frustration from earlier returning with a vengeance, and with it, an onslaught of fatigue and an incessant need to cry.

His arms snaked around her wide waist, pulling her closer to him, and securing her more comfortably in the crook of his shoulder as the first tears slipped from her closed eyes into the thin fabric of his sleeping robe. She could feel his hands rubbing gentle circles on her back, and the feathery caress of his warm breath against her ear as he whispered warm words of encouragement and comfort. Her hands fisted into the fabric of his robe as her body shook with sobs of exhaustion due to the past sleepless nights.

The warmth of his body was seeping into her, and though she wasn't cold, the heat had the welcome effect of relaxing her, giving her a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. She felt his lips brush softly against her cheeks and closed eyes, kissing the last of her tears away. Finally his lips captured her own in a sweet and gentle kiss, his tongue sweeping in and knocking her senseless as her body turned to mush in his embrace. She could feel his hold on her tighten just slightly, comfortably crushing her as close to him as he possibly could with her rounded belly between them.

Another moment later, he released her mouth, and whispered into her ear softly, "Feel better?"

She quietly giggled in return and smacked him lightly on the chest. "Mou! You did that on purpose."

"But it worked, didn't it?"

She yawned cutely in return, and nestled even more into his embrace as a sudden thought crossed her mind.

"Kenshin?" she murmured sleepily.

"Hmm?"

"What should we name the baby?"

She felt the rumble of his laughter vibrate against her from deep within him. "Go to sleep, Kaoru. We'll figure it out another time."

She nodded lightly, fisted her hands more comfortably in the folds of his sleeping robe, and promptly fell into the welcoming abyss of a comfortable sleep.


	2. Snapshot Two

**Disclaimer:** _Rurouni Kenshin_ is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and his associates. Plus, if I owned this series, that would mean that Iwrote the series, which means I would have made Kenshin and Kaoru finally smooch in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I didn't write the wonderful series, and so they don't smooch in the last volume as I would have liked. Plus, I'd be rolling in dough instead of being a flat broke first-year college student! So there you have it. I don't own the series (except on DVDs), so you can't sue me!

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**_An Album of Memories_**  
captured by **_IceAngelKaoru_**

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**_Snapshot: Two  
Label: Rainstrom Rescue  
Note: Kaoru gets stuck in the rain without an umbrella._**

Kaoru sneezed and shivered as the rain came down harder, soaking her kimono through. The material clung to her slim figure, making it difficult to walk.

She glanced down at the ruined book in her hands, and grimaced unhappily. And she was just getting into _The Tale of Genji_, too.

She looked up at the rain-darkened streets, the sky casting an ominous shadow over the town. People were hurriedly closing shop and retiring into their warm homes, and she was soon the only one left on the street.

Too bad she lived on the outskirts on the other side of town. She still had quite a way to go.

The day had started out beautifully, with bright blue skies, glowing streamers of sunlight, and puffy little clouds dotting the heavens here and there. Seeing the gorgeous day, she had decided to just take a day for herself, get away from the dojo, and commune with nature for a bit. So she packed herself a small lunch of rice balls and sashimi, grabbed a book, informed her husband that she was going out, and left.

She had found a good place to have her little picnic -- under the eaves of a large oak tree on the riverbank on the other side of town with leafy, widespread branches. And for a few luxurious hours, she had peace and harmony for herself.

And then the rain had come and ruined it all. It had started out as a drizzle, so she decided that it was a good time to head home since the rain was still light.

And it all went downhill from there. First the rain picked up, and unluckily for her, she was nowhere near a store awning so that she could take some shelter. Then she had tripped in a puddle of mud, ruining her clothes and getting herself more wet as the rain picked up into a full blown storm.

And now she was walking through town, with no umbrella, no place to take shelter, soaking wet, and wishing she were home, wrapped in her red-headed husband's arms with a warm cup of green tea…

Kaoru yelped as she fell forward into another puddle of mud, pain jolting up her right ankle and bringing her back to reality. She tried to stand, but her ankle was being difficult, and so she fell again.

"Kaoru!"

She swore she could hear someone faintly calling her name…

"Kaoru!"

She looked up to see someone coming toward her. Someone who was, for lack of a better description, short and wearing a magenta gi and carrying a large purple and white umbrella.

She felt a large and very happy smile bloom on her face. "Kenshin!"

He came to a stop in front of her, panting slightly. Warm and concerned violet eyes took in her disheveled appearance, and he bent down so that he was at level with her.

"I'm glad I found you."

She smiled. "I'm glad you found me, too."

"Are you hurt?"

She hesitated. "Um…well…"

He sighed and shook his head. "Hold this," he told her, and handed her the handle of the umbrella.

She took the umbrella from him, and suddenly found herself being picked up.

"Hey wait! What are you--? Kenshin! Put me down!"

She glared at her flame-haired spouse, and he just smiled back.

"I know that you won't tell me if you're hurt. So I decided to forget about waiting for you to tell me of your injury. It will get us home more quickly if I carry you, anyway."

She pouted. "Mou!"

He chuckled lightly, the laughter rumbling in his chest. Deciding that she couldn't do anything about it now, she adjusted the umbrella so that it covered them both. Already she could feel his body heat seeping into her rain-chilled joints, and the sound of his easy breathing combined with the scents of ginger and pine needles wafting from him were lulling her to sleep.

"Tired?"

"A little bit."

"We'll be home soon enough."

"Mm."

The rain pattered rhythmically against the umbrella as a comfortable silence settled over the couple. She felt him shift his hold on her slightly, so that her cheek was pillowed in the crook of his shoulder.

She smiled softly. "I guess…it's not so bad…" she whispered.

"What is?"

"You carrying me home."

He smiled. "I'm glad that you are content."

He carried her in silence for a little while more, and then came to a stop. "We're home."

She nodded, and he set her down. She remembered to put pressure on her left foot, and limped inside once Kenshin had gotten the dojo gate open, umbrella still clutched in her hand to guard against the now-gentle drizzle, intent on going to their room to change into some dry clothes.

She was taken once more by surprise when he picked her up again and carried her in the direction of the bathhouse, the umbrella still covering them as they walked under the roof of the veranda.

She looked at him, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you to the bathhouse."

"I know that. But why?"

"You're soaking wet and your ankle is hurt."

She pouted. "You don't miss much, do you?"

"It's difficult not to notice when one's wife is limping."

"But why are you--? Wait a minute…"

A bright red blush appeared on her cheeks, and she buried her face in his neck.

"I think that you may have finally caught on to my idea," he said, a devilish smile appearing on his face while his eyes twinkled innocently as his grip on his young spouse tightened slightly when the entrance to the bathhouse appeared in front of them.

She only smacked him half-heartedly while a small, shy smile grew on her lips. "I suppose a warm bath before dinner couldn't hurt…"

He chuckled lightly and proceeded to carry her into the bathhouse.


	3. Snapshot Three

**A note from the author's desk:** I should probably point out that each of these one-shots is unrelated to the others. They're basically memories showing up in no particular order. I'm sorry if I misled any of you into thinking that all of these take place during Kaoru's pregnancy with Kenji.

**Disclaimer:** _Rurouni Kenshin_ is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and his associates. Plus, if I owned this series, that would mean that Iwrote the series, which means I would have made Kenshin and Kaoru finally smooch in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I didn't write the wonderful series, and so they don't smooch in the last volume as I would have liked. Plus, I'd be rolling in dough instead of being a flat broke first-year college student! So there you have it. I don't own the series (except on DVDs), so you can't sue me!

* * *

_**An Album of Memories**_  
captured by _**IceAngelKaoru**_

_

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**Snapshot: Three  
Label: Their Darkest Hour  
Note:Tragedy strikes the couple, andKenshin is left wondering how to pickup the pieces.** _

Himura Kenshin watched in silence from the kitchen doorway as his wife, dressed in a simple black kimono with a matching shawl, slipped quietly from the dojo gates to the snow-covered world outside.

A deep ache tore at his heart at the reason behind their recent behavior toward each other. She had been isolated and silent this last week, and he was very much the same. She had barely eaten anything in the past few days, and though he tried to smile for her, tried to make her happy again, nothing worked. When he woke up in the mornings, she was already out of bed, either meditating in the dojo, or sitting outside by the koi pond while wrapped in a heavy blanket. And her eyes…

Her eyes had turned blank and empty. They no longer held that little sparkle that was uniquely her own. They were simple deep blue eyes, vast and empty and cold as the sea on a winter day. They were the eyes of a doll, a shell.

And he was frustrated with himself. He was her husband. He should have been able to protect her from something as painful as this, and he felt guilty that he couldn't. It didn't matter that the situation was beyond his control. He still loved her and he had vowed to protect her. And though he hadn't actually failed in that vow, he hadn't really succeeded in keeping it either.

But what was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say to her? What if he said the wrong thing? He was used to talking things out with his wife, but it was harder to do that now.

Kenshin sighed as he turned back inside from watching the empty, snow-filled courtyard, pulling the letter that had arrived yesterday from his sleeve, staring at it intently.

Perhaps Megumi's answer to his letter could help him.

He sat down at the table, and unfolded the sheet of paper over its smooth surface. Hoping for some answers, he began to read.

Twenty minutes later, Kenshin left the dojo in search of his wife, a few simple lines from the reply running through his head, while his heart tugged at his conscience to go and find Kaoru as soon as possible before something happened.

_More than anything, you need each other and your love for one another right now. As long as you both have that, everything will eventually be all right._

**000**

The snow was heavier than he had expected, thick and hindering his walk. Luckily, the snow that fell from the sky was light, and did not affect him as much as the snow on the ground.

He was beginning to get worried, however, because the temperature was still low, still very cold, and he feared that Kaoru might get sick.

He trudged to a halt, finally deciding to take a short breather, and found himself in a clearing on the riverbank.

And he found Kaoru there as well, kneeling on the bank and staring at the frozen water, a lump of gloomy black against their pure white surroundings. He noticed that her hair was not held back on top of her head in its customary ponytail, and was hanging loosely around her form instead, adding to the feeling of despair that seemed to be surrounding her as of late.

Though he couldn't see exactly what she was doing, he could hear the sound of an impact, the sound of something hitting something else, over and over again. Not wanting to startle her, he made his way over to her in a rather noisy fashion, making sure that the sound of his sandals crunching in the snow could be easily heard.

"Kaoru?"

No answer; just the sound of rhythmic hitting, as if something was being punched repeatedly.

He came up next to her, and kneeled down in the snow. He kept his eyes on her face, the punching much louder in his ears. He followed her line of vision to the rough surface of the iced-over river.

The sight of her mangled, blood-slick fists punching at the uneven ice broke his heart. Unable to bear her self-destruction, he grabbed her wrists before her fists could make another impact.

"Stop, Kaoru."

"Let go, Kenshin." Her voice was soft, pleading, and raspy from limited use.

"No."

"Please let go."

He hesitated. "Only if you promise not to hit the ice anymore."

She nodded, and he let go of her wrists, watching them collapse into her lap.

They sat in silence, though the lack of sound was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. It was just quiet, as if they were each waiting for the other to make the first move towards a real conversation.

"I-I didn't want to believe it was real," she whispered, so softly that he almost didn't hear her.

Kenshin looked at his wife, not sure what to say, waiting for her to finish.

"When it happened, it felt like a dream. I couldn't believe it. This past week I've felt like I was covered in a dense fog. I feel hollow, and cold. I feel like I have ice in the pit of my stomach, the way you do when you're having a horrible nightmare. When I came here, I convinced myself that if I punched the ice and didn't feel anything, then I would wake up, and everything would be fine. Everything would be the way it was supposed to be."

He hesitated before he asked, "Did you feel anything?"

"Part of me did, but most of me didn't. So I kept punching the ice, trying to wake up. Most of me still believes it's all a bad dream."

She turned to him then, blue eyes searching his. "Please Kenshin. Please tell me it's a dream. Tell me I'll wake up soon. Tell me that everything that's happened is a lie."

Pain ripped through his heart like fire, and for the first time in a very long time, he felt tears come to his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru," he whispered hoarsely.

"No. It's a lie."

He shook his head.

"No, you're lying. Please tell me you're lying." Her tone was desperate, and her eyes bore into his own, begging to be told what she wanted to hear as her hands grabbed at him roughly.

He shook his head, and felt the first burning tears slip down his cheeks. "No, Kaoru. It's…It's not a lie."

"No. No, no, no…" She was shaking her head now, her eyes squeezed shut, her damaged hands coming up to her ears as if to block out his words.

His vision blurred as he said shakily, "It's true. You…you miscarried."

"No…no…no…" she murmured, and hunched over as she began to sob. And he reached his arms around her, crushing her to him, and buried his head into her shoulder, letting his own tears of grief seep into her clothes.

He could feel her shaking in his embrace, her sobs muffled and wracking her body as she fisted her hands in his gi and buried her head against his chest, her tears soaking his clothes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice heavy with guilt.

He sniffed, and pulled back just enough so that he could see her face. "Why?"

"I…I failed. For both of us."

"No. Don't say that," he whispered hoarsely. "You didn't fail."

"Then why did this happen?" she cried. "Why, Kenshin? What went wrong?"

She began to cry again. "What…what did I do wrong…?"

Her body trembled with emotion as her tears began to stream down her cheeks like rivers.

"You didn't do anything wrong. This isn't your fault," he tried to assure her, hugging her tightly.

She buried her face against his chest again. "I wish…I wish this never happened."

"I know," he whispered back, his breath ghosting against her ear.

"I don't want…to feel like this anymore…" she murmured, her voice barely making a sound.

"It will pass."

"…When?"

"When the time is right."

He watched as one injured hand dug into the snow, picking some up and letting it fall through her fingers. "Like the snow, when it's ready to melt into spring?"

He nodded. "Like the snow," he repeated, and pressed his lips to the crown of her head while his eyes looked off toward the darkening horizon.

"Let's go home, Kaoru."

She nodded, and he helped her to her feet. She leaned into him to protect herself from the cold, the snow having long since stopped falling. He held his wife to him, and they began to make their way back home. They weren't far from the dojo when he stopped walking.

She looked up at him, unsure of why he stopped, and he simply dipped his head and caught her lips with his own, his kiss full of passion, full of love, and full of devotion toward her.

When they finally parted for air, he held her close to his frame, his head buried in her shoulder, her own resting against his shoulder, and his arms wrapped firmly around her waist while her hands were once more fisted in his gi.

"I will always love you, no matter what," he whispered into her ear.

And for the first time that week, he felt her smile into his shoulder as she told him that she loved him and asked him to take her home.

And as he led them through the gates of the snow-covered dojo and into their room to put his wife down for a short rest before dinner, he was sure that, just as the snow would melt come spring, so would the pain and grief of losing their first child eventually leave them.


	4. Snapshot Four

**From the author's desk:** Wow! This one turned out much longer than I expected! Fourteen pages! Eep! Anyway, I just wanted to thank all of you who reviewed. It means a lot to me to know what you guys think of my work. I'm glad you all are enjoying these 'snapshots' of mine. There are still more of these to come, don't worry! So without further ado, here's another one to add to this collection. I hope all enjoy it as much as you did the last three!

**Disclaimer:** _Rurouni Kenshin_ is the property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and his associates. Plus, if I owned this series, that would mean that I wrote the series, which means I would have made Kenshin and Kaoru finally smooch in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I didn't write the wonderful series, and so they don't smooch in the last volume as I would have liked. Plus, I'd be rolling in dough instead of being a flat broke first-year college student! So there you have it. I don't own the series (except on DVDs), so you can't sue me!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_An Album of Memories_**  
captured by _**IceAngelKaoru**_

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_**Snapshot: Four  
Label: Birthday Surprise  
Note: Kenshin is left wondering what his wife is up to in the week preceding his thirtieth birthday.**_

Kaoru lay awake in bed late one night, her mind devoid of good ideas for a gift.

Kenshin's birthday was only a week away, and she didn't have the slightest idea what to get her husband.

Someone like him deserved something truly special. Nothing mediocre or simple would do.

She turned over on her side, coming face to face with the sleeping redhead, and couldn't help but smile.

He looked like a little boy when he slept, sometimes. It was strange, but he had a tendency to slightly curl himself up on his side, so that he wasn't exactly a tight ball, nor was he completely straight.

He was adorable when he was sleeping.

She smoothed some of his soft scarlet hair away from his face, running her fingers through the thick strands as he slept soundly, admiring his near-feminine features relaxed in sleep.

Kaoru sighed quietly, trying not to wake him, and her eyes caught the moon shining through the window, the rays sending a glowing trail of light over her kimono and his worn gi and hakama hanging on the clothing rack in the corner.

And like a bolt of lightning, an idea struck her fancy, an idea so brilliant that she felt a weight lift from her mind, allowing her to finally relax for the rest of the night.

Feeling drowsy, she snuggled closer to her husband, the warm heat of his body and his deep, even breaths ghosting softly over her bangs and forehead lulling her off to the land of dreams.

**000**

Kenshin awoke to an empty futon, with Kaoru's side of it untouched. That was strange to him, considering Kaoru liked to sleep, and a bit disappointing as well.

Since he normally woke up before her, it had become a daily ritual for him to watch her as she slept, to smile as her sleepy blue eyes opened to greet the new day while still slightly lost in whatever happy visions had been running through her imagination just moments before.

In fact, her behavior the last three days was beginning to worry him. It wasn't that she was acting differently; no, Kaoru was still her temperamental self, swinging from cheerful to angry and back again with a single sweep of her bokken. In that sense, Kaoru was very much normal.

However, he couldn't help but feel that she was hiding something from him. First, she had come home from the market with two paper-wrapped packages, and some needles and thread, and so he assumed that she had bought herself something nice, and had decided she needed some new needles and thread for the mending of older clothes.

But then, starting the same night that she came home from the market, she holed herself up in one of the back rooms of the dojo with a lantern, the door closed to the rest of the world. When he asked if she was all right, she replied that she was fine and that she didn't need any help. She wouldn't say what she was doing though.

The smell of food wafting through the hallways of the dojo caught the attention of his still-hazy mind, and he shook his head. Untangling himself from the warm blankets, he stretched his arms to the ceiling and rolled his neck, popping the joints that had stiffened during the night.

And then he chuckled to himself as he realized that some of Kaoru's morning habits were rubbing off on him.

As he dressed and prepared for the day, his eye caught the calendar hanging innocently in the corner and he smiled contemplatively.

In another few days, he would be thirty years old. And in another couple of months, he and Kaoru would be celebrating their first anniversary.

It was strange how quickly time had passed.

With a slight smile on his face, he folded the futon, making a note to himself to ask Kaoru why she never came to bed the night before. Finished with tidying up their bedroom, he left to join his wife in the kitchen.

Kaoru was setting bowls of rice and hot miso soup on the low table when he came in.

"Good morning!" she chirped at him, and the smile on his face grew in size at the sight of her. She was dressed in her kimono from the evening before, the soft red color accenting her glowing peaches-and-crème skin. He was surprised as well; he could see slight fatigue in her eyes, and yet she seemed quite energetic.

He couldn't understand how she wasn't falling asleep on her feet.

"Good morning," he replied back, his smile becoming a bit strained. He was worried; what could she be doing that it would keep her awake all night?

He had to know, and he decided that he would ask her during breakfast as he watched her bring the tea to the table.

They sat down across from each other, blessed the meal, and began to eat. The rice had only the slightest hint of a burnt flavor, and the soup had just the tiniest hint of too much pepper.

Kenshin had to agree that Kaoru's cooking had very much improved in their time together. He knew better than anyone that her cooking was beyond horrible when they first met; of course, there was no way he was ever going to say that to her face, especially if he didn't want to sleep alone in the hall for the night…

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and looked at his wife, who had a look of concentration on her face as if she were deep in thought.

"Kaoru?"

She blinked, coming out of her reverie after hearing his voice. "Hmm? What is it?"

"Are you all right?"

She blinked again, confused. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Um…well, it's just that…you never came to bed last night."

She blushed. "Oh. Hehe…no, nothing's wrong. I just couldn't sleep. Don't worry about it." She waved her hand dismissively for emphasis and went back to eating her breakfast.

Of course, Kenshin still didn't believe her. Kaoru couldn't lie to save her life. He decided to just let her come to him when she was ready, as that normally worked out for the best. In the meantime, he would do his best to try not to dwell on what could be causing her odd behavior.

The rest of their meal continued in a peaceable silence, both enjoying their meals and the quiet morning.

Once finished with breakfast, the two went their separate ways for the day -- Kaoru to instruct the morning classes with Yahiko (when he finally bothered to show up), and Kenshin to complete his daily routine of chores.

The day passed like any other day, save for Kaoru deciding on taking a short nap before dinner. Kenshin wasn't surprised; she had to finally get some sleep eventually.

By the time dinner rolled around, however, Kaoru was wide awake, with no traces of fatigue in her eyes.

Dinner was noisier than breakfast, what with Kaoru and Yahiko bickering with each other, and Kenshin playing the peacekeeper (not that he minded; fighting with Kaoru seemed like a very bad idea).

Once they were all finished and the kitchen was cleaned, however, Kaoru was off to the back room again humming happily and muttering quietly to herself.

Kenshin was going to follow her when Yahiko spoke up.

"Busu told me to tell you not to go back there."

He blinked. "Oro? Why would she do that?"

He shrugged. "Said she needed peace and quiet for something."

Kenshin eyed the twelve-year-old. There was a smile tugging at his mouth.

He narrowed his eyes in frustration.

"Yahiko, what aren't you telling me?"

The boy grinned. "Nothing, I swear. She just told me to tell you to not go back there." The boy paused, and added as an afterthought, "And she said to be patient, too."

Kenshin groaned inwardly. He'd been patient for the past four days, which included today. How much longer would he have to wait for her to tell him what was going on?

He knew that he was patient by most standards, but even he had his limits. And his wife hiding a secret from him only brought him that much closer to said limit.

He sighed and shook his head. He would have to give Kaoru her space; he just hoped that she would tell him what she was hiding sooner rather than later.

The next few days went by in very much the same fashion, except that Kaoru never again made the mistake of not coming to bed. No matter how late at night it became, she always came to bed, though that only gave Kenshin a smidgen of relief.

The evening before his birthday, however, brought Kenshin a welcome surprise, which was just enough for him to forget about Kaoru's recent secretive behavior for a little while.

A little bit before sunset, there came a knock at the gate of the dojo. Kenshin stepped out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on his worn, white hakama, and opened said gate, only to be tackled by a short and hyper young woman, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Himura!"

"Orooooo… Misao-dono? What are you doing here?"

"It's not just me, Himura! Look who else is here!" Misao chirped as she got up off of him.

Kenshin gathered himself together, and with a little help from Misao, stood up to see who else was at the gate.

There were three other people besides the hyperactive ninja girl, two men and a woman. One man was very tall and dressed in his standard white trench coat, his raven bangs falling into his narrow ice-colored eyes.

Kenshin felt a smile tug at his lips, and he bowed. "Hello, Aoshi. It's good to see you."

Said man nodded and bowed politely, saying nothing.

The person next to Aoshi was the woman, who was also tall, and was very beautiful. Before Kenshin could say anything, however, she had already stepped forward to give him a hug.

"Oh, Ken-san! It's so wonderful to see you again!"

Kenshin was blushing profusely. Due to his height, he was rather short compared to the woman, and so his face was…well…pillowed in a rather uncomfortable place. He could only pray that Kaoru didn't catch him.

"Hey! Get your hands off of my husband, you vixen!"

Too late.

He sighed when Megumi let go of him finally to go and give Kaoru a hug as well. At least he could breathe again.

"Oi! Don't tell me you all forgot about me already! I've only been gone for a week and a half!"

Kenshin blinked.

"Sanosuke?"

The third person at the gate stepped into the dojo courtyard. He hadn't changed much, except for the fact that he had longer hair, and there was some stubble on his chin. He was still the tall, lanky, and seemingly insensitive rooster-head that they all knew and mostly loved.

"Che! Who else would it be?"

And then Kenshin found himself being slapped on the back, the force almost knocking him over again.

Kenshin blinked again, and opened his mouth to greet his friend, only to be interrupted by Kaoru.

"What do you mean 'a week and a half'? You've been gone for a _year_ and a half, you idiot!"

Kenshin watched as she smacked Sanosuke over the head, and then hugged him. "Welcome back," he heard her say.

The dojo was full and lively that night. Apparently, they had all planned amongst themselves to come and visit on Kenshin's thirtieth birthday. The evening was spent with Sano, Misao, and Yahiko squabbling, Megumi and Kaoru mock-fighting with one another, and Aoshi and himself simply enjoying a few quiet games of shogi.

Eventually, the boys and Misao migrated over to the corner where Kenshin and Aoshi were playing to watch and make bets with each other while Megumi read quietly in a corner.

Kenshin was so lost in his game with Aoshi that he didn't even notice that Kaoru was no longer with them.

In fact, it was Megumi who pointed out Kaoru's absence with a simple, "How long does it take go to the outhouse and back?"

Kenshin looked up, confused. "Oro? What do you mean, Megumi-dono?"

"Well, Kaoru-chan excused herself a little while ago, saying she had something to take care of. I assumed she was going to use the outhouse."

Before Kenshin could say anything, Yahiko spoke up. "She's probably off in the back room again."

"Eh? Why would jou-chan hole herself up in there when we're all out here?" Sano asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

Yahiko grinned. "I have no idea."

Kenshin looked at the preteen skeptically, and looked at his ki. If he doubted that Yahiko knew something before, there was no doubt now.

Yahiko definitely knew something that they all didn't.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Kenshin stood from the unfinished game of shogi and began making his way toward the hall before Yahiko stopped him.

"Hold it, Kenshin!"

He stopped, and turned to the boy as everyone else looked on in silence.

"Kaoru said to be patient, remember?"

The redhead scowled uncharacteristically. "One. Week," he growled out.

"Huh?"

"I have been patient for one entire week, through which I have endured my wife's rather odd and secretive behavior while hoping that she will come and tell me what it is she is hiding from me. Tell me, Yahiko, what do you know that I don't? Do you know why Kaoru has been coming to bed late at night, and why she hadn't slept at all the other night?"

Yahiko met Kenshin's narrowed gaze squarely…and smirked.

"Yup."

Kenshin was thoroughly confused and taken aback by Yahiko's impudence. The boy had always shown him the utmost respect.

What was going on?

"Look, I don't know exactly what she's doing in there. She wouldn't give me the details. But I know that she's doing something important, and that she doesn't want to be disturbed. Plus, she's really excited about doing whatever it is that she does in there, so it can't be bad, right?"

Sanosuke spoke up then. "But you never cared before if she was disturbed or not while she was doing something important. So why are you caring now?"

Yahiko gulped. "Umm…"

"Oooh, did Kaoru-san blackmail ickle Yahiko into doing what she wanted him to do?" Misao crooned teasingly.

The preteen blushed, crossed his arms over his chest, 'hmph'-ed, and turned his head.

Everyone, save Aoshi and Kenshin, laughed as Misao screeched gleefully, "She did! She did!"

The laughter died down long enough for Sanosuke to ask, "So what did she blackmail you with? Was she gonna tell Tsubame-chan about the time that you--"

The boy howled indignantly and attacked the rooster-head while everyone excluding Kenshin and Aoshi burst out laughing again.

Kenshin's shoulders slumped in defeat. It would be another night of being kept in the dark; he didn't want to risk Yahiko's pride in front of the one most important to him.

He sighed heavily, and admitted that he would simply have to wait for Kaoru to come clean to him when she was ready. Pointing the time out to everyone, he suggested that they call it a night.

He led everyone to the spare bedrooms and bid them all a good night, making his way to the room he shared with Kaoru. As it had been for the past several nights whenever he entered, the room was empty, the lantern in the corner glowing brightly and stretching dark shadows on the wall. He changed into his sleeping robe quickly, neatly hanging his clothes on the rack, and deftly unfolded the futon and blankets. He looked at the closed shoji door that was the entrance to their room, and sighed heavily once more.

The best thing he could do was to simply go to bed. Kaoru would come when she was ready. He got under the covers, lay down, and faced the window.

He never realized when he fell asleep.

The next morning, Kenshin woke to the wonderful feeling of warm sunlight on his back and someone running gentle fingers through his hair. He opened his eyes slowly, coming face to face with glowing blue jewels and a warm smile.

"Good morning," she murmured softly to him, and gently kissed him. He responded automatically, pulling her closer to him. She pulled back slowly, and settled herself so that her head was tucked in the crook of his shoulder.

He breathed a sigh of contentment, and held her close to him. "Good morning to you as well."

"Did you sleep well?"

He frowned and sighed. "Not really."

"I'm sorry. It's my fault isn't it?"

He didn't say anything.

Kaoru smiled at him guiltily and cupped his scarred left cheek. "I know you don't want to hear this anymore, but please be patient with me for just a little bit longer. Please?"

He looked at her. There was a good intention behind all of this, he could see it in her eyes and read it in her ki. Unable to do much else, he simply nodded in acceptance and rested his chin on top of her head, pulling her just a little bit closer as she relaxed in his embrace; they were both asleep in minutes.

They were roused from their early-morning nap when Misao came noisily knocking on their door, telling them to hurry and come out to breakfast before it was all gone. Husband and wife stood from the warm next of blankets, dressed and freshened quickly, and went to breakfast hand-in-hand.

As soon as they entered the dining room, a loud cheer of "Happy Birthday, Kenshin!" rang out around the room, and Kenshin couldn't help but smile at his friends as he and Kaoru took their seats at the table for a breakfast of hot miso soup, rice, and pickled radishes.

Once breakfast was finished and cleared away, everyone gathered in the large sitting room of the living quarters.

Kaoru pushed Kenshin down on a cushion, while everyone else sat in a circle around him.

In the middle of the ring, there lay a medium-sized pile of packages.

One by one, Kaoru handed a package to Kenshin, who carefully opened each one. He couldn't remember a time that he had ever received so many gifts.

The first was, according to Sano, a "men's wallet" that he had picked up while in Europe. "I figured something like that wouldn't be able to fall through a hole in your sleeve like that time in Hakone." Kenshin secretly agreed; this "men's wallet" was much larger than the small coin-purse he normally used, though he wasn't sure how often he was going to use this "men's wallet". He thanked Sanosuke nonetheless.

Megumi's gift to him was a book on some simple herbal remedies that could give temporary relief in the event that a doctor couldn't make it in time to help a patient. Kenshin felt that it was definitely a good resource to have with a (hopefully) growing family like his. Megumi also gave him another batch of medicines that would help ease the pain that came with the gradual weakening of his physical state. Kenshin couldn't help but thank the lady doctor.

Aoshi and Misao's gift to Kenshin was a simple package of homemade sweets and a journal. Though a bit surprised at receiving a blank journal, he thanked them heartily.

The two ninja had also brought a gift for Kenshin from Hiko. It was a simple set of teacups, painted with delicate birds and cherry blossoms. Kenshin made a mental note to write a thank you letter to the man he considered his father.

The last gift was from Yahiko, and was a drawing of Katsura Kogoro, the man Kenshin worked for during the Bakumatsu. Kenshin had always respected him, even though it was Katsura who made him a hitokiri. It was also because of Katsura that Kenshin had those six months of peace with Tomoe in Otsu before he brought her to her unfortunate end, and Katsura had been remorseful when he found out. He couldn't hate the man because of that. Kenshin reminded himself to go and pay his respects at Katsura's resting place while thanking Yahiko.

"Wait a minute. Don't _you_ have a gift for Himura, Kaoru-san? He is your husband, after all," Misao piped up while Kenshin was tucking the drawing away in his gi.

Everyone, Kenshin included, turned to look at Kaoru, who sat with a secretive little smile on her face. "Of course I do."

"Well, where is it?" Sanosuke said, looking around the room, hoping to spot a hidden package in one of the far corners.

Kaoru looked at the clock instead, completely bypassing Sanosuke's question. "How does a late lunch at the Akabeko sound to everyone?"

The mention of food caught everyone but Kenshin's attention, and the group came to a consensus that it would leave in about four hours for lunch.

"Everyone remember to dress up. Today's a special occasion," Kaoru reminded them all as they dispersed from the sitting room.

However, Kenshin remained seated right where he was, boring holes into his wife's back.

Once everyone was gone, Kaoru turned to the redhead on the floor and smiled broadly.

"I think you've been patient long enough," she whispered. Taking his hand, she pulled the now-thirty-year-old man to his feet, and quietly led him to the back room of the dojo.

He stared at the door in front of him. Finally, he would find out what had occupied his wife for the past several nights, what exactly had been keeping her away from him.

He watched as she slid the door open, only to reveal a room with a chest with a full-length mirror standing next to it in one corner, and an unfolded changing screen in the other.

Kaoru walked over to the chest and kneeled in front of it, while telling him over her shoulder to come inside and close the door. He did as she asked, and watched as she removed two cloth-wrapped bundles, and a strip of spare cloth. She came up to him, set the bundles by her feet, and began wrapping the cloth around his eyes.

"This is so you don't peek," she assured him, gently tweaking his nose. A bit baffled by the need of the blindfold, he allowed her to lead him behind what he realized was the changing screen.

"Uh oh…" He could hear the apprehension in her voice.

"What is it, Kaoru?"

"Umm…I just realized that you're going to need my help…"

"Oro?" Why would he need her help…? And then suddenly, like a flash, it all made sense. The changing screen, the chest, the mirror…

Kaoru had made him something to wear, but she didn't want him to see it until he was wearing it, so she had blindfolded him.

And she was nervous, because that meant that she would have to change him.

"Well," he heard himself say, "it's not like you haven't seen me in less before."

He heard an embarrassed squeak escape her, and he smirked as he imagined the blush that was most likely staining her cheeks a rosy shade of pink. Then she sighed, as if in defeat, and he felt her presence enter the little area behind the screen.

"There's no avoiding it, though…"

And then he felt her tentative fingers tugging at his worn magenta gi, pulling gently so as not to rip the already fragile fabric. He helped her as well as he could, trying to ease some of her apparent discomfort.

"You know," he whispered teasingly in her ear, "this could be easier if you just took off my blindfold."

"No way!" she emphatically muttered back at him as she finally got the last of his clothes, save his undergarments, off of him. "I'm not letting you see this until you're wearing it! Now turn around."

He grinned, and did as she asked.

"Lift your arms just a little bit…there, that's fine…" she murmured, as he felt soft, smooth fabric slide up his arms and settle onto his shoulders. "Turn around."

He turned, and helped her slide what he correctly guessed to be a pair of hakama up his legs. She held the hakama untied at his hips, waiting for him as he folded the right side of the new gi across his person and overlapped it with the left. He then felt her deftly tie the sash at his waist, and then take his hand to lead him out from behind the screen.

He allowed her to position him in specific spot, and felt her pull on the tie of the blindfold slightly before it fell away from his eyes.

The image that greeted him left him speechless. His reflection was dressed smartly in a crisp new pair of bright white hakama, and deep purple gi with a white-and-purple geometric border on the sleeves. He watched as his reflection's hand reached up to stroke the soft material of the gi, only to realize that it was really _his_ hand, and that in reality it was _he_ who was dressed so sharply.

It had been years since he had clothes as new as these. In his many years of wandering, he had only had one extra change of clothes, which consisted of an equally worn deep navy gi and a pair of dark gray hakama. And on his wedding day, it was true that he had worn very nice clothes, but they were not his to keep; in fact, they were Kaoru's father's old clothes, which had simply been altered to fit him. Kaoru herself had worn her mother's wedding kimono, but that was because it had rightfully been passed down to her…

"Do you like them, Kenshin?" he heard her ask through the haze of thoughts in his mind, and he could only nod wordlessly, an amazed look still on his face as he continued to stare at his reflection.

He vaguely registered a smile on her reflection's face. "I'm glad. Now let me put the blindfold on you one more time; I have one more set for you to try."

He let her blindfold him once more, and the process of changing him began once more. This time, however, Kaoru was more comfortable…and a bit more playful as well. She kept tickling some of the more sensitive spots on his skin like his sides and his spine, which made him flinch and, much to his chagrin, squeak girlishly. That, of course, only gave Kaoru more of an incentive to snicker at him.

By the time she was done dressing him in his new kimono, complete with kaku-obi and haori, his cheeks were bright red from embarrassment and he was uncharacteristically pouting like a little boy.

Kaoru only laughed harder at this as she led him out from behind the screen.

"Well…why don't you consider it payback for that little crack at me earlier and we'll call it even?" she compromised with him as she positioned him in the same place as before.

"Deal," he muttered, and felt the blindfold fall away from his eyes for a second time.

As he stared at his image in the mirror, he was left silent once more. The entire kimono ensemble was magnificent: the kimono itself was a deep navy embroidered with majestic silver dragons; the black kaku-obi was interwoven with silver threads, giving off a shaded impression; the haori was black as well, a silver dragon circling the end of each sleeve as a border.

He had to admit to himself that the stitching for both outfits was superb, and they were by far the best gifts he had received.

Suddenly feeling strangely emotional at the thought that he was dressed in new clothes, he was startled to see Kaoru in front of him and feel her gentle fingers cupping his face as she carefully thumbed away unshed tears from his eyes.

"Silly man," she grinned at him. "Why would you cry about something like this?"

He swallowed, and gave her a quivering smile. "I-I haven't had new clothes that were mine for about twelve years."

She smiled and stroked his cheek. "And now you do."

He smiled, and pulled her towards him in a firm embrace, one arm snaking around her small waist, the hand of the other digging into her thick black hair while her own small hands fisted into the fabric of his new kimono. He kissed her soundly, and her lips parted just enough for him to enter. She tasted like honey and berries, and the sweet floral scent that belonged uniquely to Kaoru permeated his nostrils, the combination of scent and taste and touch filling Kenshin's head with a dizzying euphoria.

They finally parted for air, and while he rested his forehead against her own, Kenshin came to the strange realization that they had backed up all the way to the wall. An idea popped into his head, and he glanced out the window, studying the shadows.

Kaoru looked at him, her lips lightly swollen from his kiss, her happy blue eyes shadowed with light confusion.

"What are you thinking about, Kenshin?"

"Just wondering how much time we have before we have to go to lunch."

Kaoru laughed and brought her hands up to lace them around the back of his neck.

"I can tell you that we definitely don't have enough time to do what I'm quite sure you're thinking of…but there's always tonight…" she whispered mischievously in his ear.

"But what about the others?"

"We can always lock the gate."

"Mm."

He hugged her close for a few minutes longer, simply enjoying the silence, before a thought popped into his head.

"Where did you learn to sew like this?"

"My mother taught me. It was the one thing I could do right when it came to acting like a girl, so I stuck with it. Plus I liked embroidery; it's like art on fabric. That makes it all the more interesting."

He nodded. "I see. I'm amazed that you managed to make all of these in a week."

She grinned. "When you're only honing one feminine skill, it doesn't become hard to gain speed in what you do."

He nodded, and leaned in to kiss her once more when he heard Yahiko's voice calling for the two of them so they could go to lunch.

He groaned inwardly and pouted uncharacteristically once more.

Kaoru laughed. "It looks like some of my habits are rubbing off on you."

He chuckled along with her and nodded. Then he took her hand, and led her out of the room and toward the rest of their friends.

"Oh, Kenshin?"

"Yes?" He looked at her as they walked, and she smiled brightly at him.

"Happy Birthday."

He smiled and squeezed her hand as they continued walking down the hall.


	5. Snapshot Five

**From the author's desk:** Hello, my lovelies! Thank you all so much for your wonderful support. I'm really glad you guys all enjoyed the last 'snapshot'. After pulling off the ones before this new addition, I'm afraid that this one may not be up to snuff. I tried, but this particular one was difficult. Please excuse the difference in quality; since I'm in a new setting (I've just moved into my sister's apartment, and I'm using a new computer), my writing may seem a bit stiff since my muses seem a bit muddled because of their new surroundings. Again, I apologize; hopefully, once I'm finally used to living where I am, my quality of writing will be back up to all of your expectations. Please (try to) enjoy this latest installment! Thank you!

**Disclaimer:** I obviously don't own _Rurouni Kenshin_. If I did, then I'd be able to pay my own college bills. But of course, that is not the case.

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**_An Album of Memories  
_**captured by **_IceAngelKaoru_**

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**_Snapshot: Five  
Label: Of Illness and Grief  
Note: While suffering from a fever, Kaoru has a hallucination, the significance of which she later explains to her husband._**

It was somewhat late in the morning when she woke up.

Kaoru forced herself to sit up while feeling hot and cold all at once. Her head felt heavy, her nose and throat felt clogged, and her stomach gurgled angrily at her, causing her to leave the warm recesses of her futon and stumble in the direction of the outhouse.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it that far; she lost her meal from the night before as she hung her head over the edge of the engawa.

The sunlight hurt her sensitive eyes, and she blearily made her way back to the futon she shared with Kenshin, not even noticing him as he was walking toward her from the kitchen.

She didn't even realize when she fell to the floor in an unconscious heap.

When she came aware, she found a pair of deeply worried violet eyes framed by flame-tinted locks of hair staring intently at her. She felt a cool cloth on her head, and shivered heavily.

"C-cold," she rasped out, her throat feeling heavily irritated, as if being pricked by hot needles from the inside out. Her world was beginning to swim, and the image of her husband kneeling over her was replaced by the picture of a dark alley, and the sounds of fighting.

The sky was dark and covered with heavy clouds, hiding the moon's bright face from view.

Kaoru was aware of her heavy breathing and the feel of a shinai handle in her small hand.

Wait…

Small hand…?

She squinted at her hands in the dark, and realized that she was no longer a young woman, but a child.

She heard a heavy grunt ahead of her, and the sound of bodies hitting the ground filled her ears. The clouds finally parted from the sky, filling the night with bright moonbeams, which lit up the figures on the ground.

Two things caught and held her attention, however.

She watched in horror as the light stretched to light her father's body lying face down on the floor of the alleyway, and the dark red substance staining the back of his gi.

"FATHER!"

She felt herself jerk and try to sit up abruptly, and she realized that she was once again in the futon she shared with her husband, who was pushing her back down into the pillow and the heavy blankets of the bed.

She was still screaming for her father when she felt Kenshin shake her both gently and forcefully.

"Kaoru, calm down," she heard him whisper into her ear. "You were hallucinating. What you saw wasn't really happening."

Her terrified blue eyes locked onto his face, the panic coursing through her fevered body causing her already shallow breathing to quicken even more. She could feel his hand running through her hair, and he smiled at her reassuringly. "It wasn't real. Just calm down."

She tried to nod back, and felt her eyes slip closed in a restless sleep.

She didn't know how long she suffered through the visions plaguing her mind, and unfortunately for her, the visions were anything but pleasant – visions of Kenshin leaving her once again, visions of her mother dying, visions of the dojo burning down with everyone inside while she stood in the courtyard, unable to do anything about.

The most painful were the ones of her father dying. He would be shot, or stabbed in the back, or given a fatal wound, or tortured or beaten to the point where he was no longer breathing, no longer conscious, no longer alive.

And every time, she came away screaming, only to have Kenshin tell her that what she was seeing wasn't real, that everything was all right, that he was there and that nothing would hurt her.

Kaoru finally came aware of reality in the middle of the night. Her head no longer seemed completely fogged, her throat still hurt but not as much, and she could breathe a bit more easily. The room was dimly lit with the single lamp sitting by her futon and the flames from the hearth dancing with the shadows on the wall. And though her fever had finally broken, she still felt chills running through her still-sick body.

The room was empty, save for her. Looking around slowly from her vantage point on the floor, she began to wonder where her spouse had disappeared to when the shoji slid open with a muted clack.

"You're awake," Kenshin murmured quietly as he stepped into the room with a kettle-and-cup-filled tray in his hands.

After gently sliding the shoji closed behind him, he kneeled beside the futon and began to fill a cup with hot tea. "How do you feel?"

She grimaced at him as she continued to shiver under the thick blanket covering her. "Like crap," she croaked out, wincing at the pain that lanced through er throat. She wouldn't be trying that again anytime soon.

Kenshin smiled reassuringly at her, and Kaoru suddenly found herself being picked up and settled into her husband's lap with her pillowed comfortably against his firm chest. After she took the warm cup of tea he offered to her into her hands, she felt Kenshin deftly wrap a thick quilt around the two of them as she snuggled closer to the heat radiating from him.

The warmth pouring from Kenshin's body into hers, combined with the warmth of the blanket and the hot, honey-sweetened jasmine tea slipping down her sore throat, was causing Kaoru to turn into a boneless puddle of flesh as she relaxed in her red-haired spouse's embrace.

When the tea was all gone from the cup, Kaoru let her hands fall limply into her lap as she sighed in contentment.

She felt Kenshin's grip on her tighten just the slightest bit more, holding her snugly to him, and her eyes dropped closed in bliss.

"How long was I out of it?" she asked him, bringing their comfortable silence to an end.

"About three days," he said, his voice muffled since his nose and mouth were buried in her hair. "Oguni-sensei said you were suffering from a virus that's apparently been going around recently."

She couldn't help being surprised. "Three days? I've never had a fever that long before."

He looked at her then, a warm smile tilting the corners of his mouth upward. "Well, from what I've seen, you don't fall sick as easily or as often as most women your age. It's probably because of all the kendo."

She nodded. "Maybe."

"Do you remember anything about the last three days?" he asked her softly, and she noted his cautious tone.

"I remember some of my dreams, the ones with my father in them." She shivered in recollection, never wanting to see those images again.

"That first one is especially vivid. I remember it, because that one actually did happen. I was somewhat young at the time, just starting to learn the advanced moves of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu. We were coming home from visiting Tae and her father at the Akabeko, and we got cornered by some street thugs. We beat them, but Father got injured pretty badly because the one he was fighting against fought dishonorably, using some hidden tricks. It was the first time I had ever seen my father fall in battle and it's one of the few things that scare me beyond belief."

She smiled up at Kenshin shakily. "My father was, and still is, one of my heroes. And no girl, whether a daughter or a wife or a mother, likes to see her hero fall."

Kaoru took a few deep breaths while lightly clutching at Kenshin's gi, the memory of the day she received word of her father's death popping briefly into her head, as she fought to bring her emotions under control.

When she had first met Kenshin, her mourning of her father had been put on hold for the two months prior to that due to Hiruma Gohei and Kihei's foul plot to get the deed to her family's dojo. And then, everyone else had showed up, and her grieving had become reserved for the few times when she was alone.

Now, two years after her father's death, the pain of losing him wasn't so bad. But it still hurt her to think of him on certain occasions, like her birthday or the day of her wedding or even today when she was just horribly ill. As his kendo student and successor, she would move on and uphold his honor and would try to live up to his strength in every possible way, but as his daughter, she could never forget the pain of losing her best friend, protector and hero.

Kenshin continued to cradle her in his lap, the blanket wrapping the couple providing some much needed warmth as the last of the flames in the hearth died down, and he dropped a chaste kiss to Kaoru's forehead.

"It's all right now. I'm sure he's much happier where he is now."

She nodded in agreement, not surprised that her scarlet-haired lover had caught the double meaning of her words.

Kenshin wasn't her second hero for no reason, after all.

Kaoru yawned, and Kenshin held her closer so that she could hear his steady heartbeat.

"Get some rest. You're still quite weak from that fever," he murmured softly into her ear, kissing her chastely once more, this time on the cheek.

She smiled sleepily and nodded, and let the beat of his heart lull her into the land of dreams.


	6. Snapshot Six

**From the author's desk:** So I'm back with a new "snapshot" for the "album". Thank you all so much for your support of this collection, and I'm glad that all of you readers and reviewers alike are thoroughly enjoying these little moments of Kenshin/Kaoru goodness. Now, I know this is another short entry, but now on top of getting used to my surroundings, I'm also dealing with a new schedule of classes, and more homework. It's my first semester of college! But many thanks again to all of you wonderful readers. I love each and every one of you, whether I reply back to your review or not. Please enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned _Rurouni Kenshin,_ Kenshin and Kaoru would have kissed in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I am not so fortunate.

**Warning: LIME. **I can't judge how heavy it is; that's up to you readers to decide. I'm just letting you know it's there. Feel free to turn back now if you don't like that sort of thing.

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**_An Album of Memories  
_**captured by **_IceAngelKaoru_**

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**_Snapshot: Six  
Label: Paradise  
Note: The couple spends some time alone at the beach._**

Kaoru stretched her arms up to the sky, and lightly tilted her head back to arch her back a bit more.

"It feels so good to stretch!" she sighed in contentment.

She heard a soft chuckle from behind her, and turned to look at her husband, who was setting up their campsite on the floor of the medium-sized cave they had picked as their shelter for the night.

"Are you laughing at me?" she groused, albeit teasingly.

"And if I am?" Kenshin asked, standing up from the pallet he had set up in the corner and walking over to wrap his arms around Kaoru's waist from behind.

"Well…I don't know. But I'll think of something," she tossed back.

"Hm. In that case, perhaps we should stock up on firewood, and then we can go and enjoy ourselves on the beach," he suggested matter-of-factly.

Kaoru nodded in agreement. When it came to being out and about on a journey – or a short camping trip for the two of them – she trusted Kenshin's judgment. After all, he had wandered around Japan for ten years; he had to know _something_ about living in the wild for short periods of time.

The couple went hand in hand into the nearby woods and began gathering piles of short and long twigs into their arms. As they walked, Kaoru found little treasures for herself from the floor of small forest – a large and sweetly scented pine cone, a beautiful and rather large feather patterned in different shades of brown and gold, a small bunch of juniper flowers.

They returned to the cave and dropped off the wood, and left, once more hand in hand, after Kaoru had changed into a bathing kimono and Kenshin had simply removed his gi and grabbed a blanket for the two of them to lounge on.

They had been lucky enough to find a deserted area of the beach. The sand was warm and comfortably gritty under their feet, and the sun cast bright rays of light over them, stretching their shadows out behind them.

After Kaoru had spread the blanket out on the sand, Kenshin dragged her to the lapping waters of the bright blue ocean which reached as far as the eye could see.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru feebly protested as she struggled against his firm yet gentle grip. She squealed when the cold water kissed her toes, wrenched her wrist from Kenshin's hold, and backed away from the water.

The redhead chuckled at his wife, and continued into the water until he was up to his waist in the salty liquid.

Smiling, he turned back to Kaoru, who stood rooted on the shore.

"Come in! It's not so bad!" he called to her, stretching out his hand to her.

Kaoru looked at him, unsure, and hesitantly stepped in while flinching lightly from the temperature of the water.

"Don't worry. The water will warm up once you start moving around," Kenshin prodded her gently, his hand still outstretched toward her.

Keeping her eyes on the form of her topless husband (and quite happily at that), Kaoru slowly yet steadily allowed her body to gradually disappear beneath the surface of the sour-tasting water. She reached out her hand, and grabbed that of her husband when she was close enough.

Kenshin immediately pulled her into him, and chuckled as she squeaked when he began to move the both of them further into the water.

"Kenshin! Some warning would be good before you do that!" she muttered as she lightly smacked his chest.

He chuckled, and easily released her to the point where they were only connected by their joined hands. The rolling waves of the water gently pushed them further away from shore, until they were soaked up to their shoulders and were treading water to keep afloat.

"Shall we swim a bit?" he asked her, a large smile gracing his features.

She smiled at him and let go of his hand with a nod of her head. She took a deep breath, and dove under the water, kicking and stroking easily. Though the salt in the water stung, she kept her eyes open, watching as schools of blurry, colorful fish swarmed around her and her husband.

Kenshin swam closer to the reef and Kaoru followed his hazy image. Once she got to the reef, she floated up to the surface to get some much needed air into her lightly burning lungs, and this time, Kenshin followed her.

"The fish are beautiful," she commented, her voice loud so that he would hear her over the waves. He nodded in agreement, and dove back underwater with Kaoru.

They continued to swim and watch the fish for quite some time more, until Kaoru finally signaled to him that she was ready to return to shore. He nodded, and they began to swim back.

Kaoru had just reached the point where she had first met Kenshin in the water when she noticed he was not swimming behind her. Worried, she waited a few minutes more, hoping to see some sign of him.

There was none.

Taking a deep breath, she went back into the water, swimming quickly with strong kicks and strokes, the adrenaline coursing through her pushing her to find her redheaded lover.

She finally saw him struggling to free himself from a large tangle of seaweed. Unfortunately, his long crimson hair was obscuring his vision, and he was in an odd, bent over position which was causing him to lose air more quickly as he blindly groped at the offending plant.

Feeling the vibrations of something coming toward him in the water, Kenshin looked up through his titian locks to see the form of a seemingly ethereal woman clad in pale blue and white speedily swimming toward him, her long loose dark hair floating around her like a feathery cloud, the sunlight of the nearing sunset filtering through the water setting her aglow.

He smiled at the image his Kaoru made as she swam toward him as he tried to ignore the burning that was growing in his lungs.

He needed air, and soon. His head was beginning to hurt with the lack of oxygen.

Trying her best not to panic, Kaoru swam right up to Kenshin, before quickly breaking the surface to gather some air in her own lungs. Once finished gathering her breath, she dove back down again.

And then she kissed him, right there in the water.

Kenshin felt the burning in his chest subside as his wife passed the air she had gathered into his mouth. The kiss was short-lived, however, only there to get some air into him, and as soon as she broke away, she reached down to his tangled ankle, and her fingers deftly peeled the offending seaweed away from him, setting him free.

He grabbed her by the arms once he was loose, and together they kicked themselves to the surface. They gathered air into their lungs, and once more took off to shore, this time swimming hand in hand.

They came running out of the water, only to collapse in a heap of tired limbs on the sun-warmed blanket spread out on the beach, panting heavily as they rested from the rigorous exercise they endured.

Kaoru maneuvered herself so that she was lying with her head on Kenshin's chest, and he wrapped his right arm around her snugly as she gently traced random patterns on his damp skin.

She giggled as he flinched at her feathery touch, and laughed outright when she heard a suppressed (and very girlish) squeal escape him.

She caught him pouting childishly at her in indignation, and she continued tickling him, causing him to flinch and squeal even more.

"Consider this payback for making me worry and come rescue you," she teased with a smile.

He looked at her with an arched crimson brow, and half-raised his body on an elbow. "Payback, hmm…?"

Kaoru blinked in surprise as she suddenly found herself flipped on her back, his face looming over her own, amber-flecked violet jewels twinkling with mischief and hunger, lips curved in a loving yet wicked smile.

A shiver ran down her spine as he bent his head to whisper in her ear, "Allow me to show you what 'payback' should be."

Her eyes drooped closed, then, as he dipped his head and kissed her soundly on the mouth, the salt from the sea water blending wonderfully with the smoky sweet taste that was uniquely his own.

As his mouth worked its magic on her sense of taste, his hands performed their own enchantments, sending pleasurable jolts of fire down her spine every time the pads of his fingers slipped beneath the folds of her drenched swimming kimono to trace lazy patterns on the skin of her collar, her breast, her thigh…

Kaoru was deaf to the sound of the pounding waves, blind to the dying sun, numb to the blanket that separated the two of them from the gritty smoothness of the sand covering the shoreline.

The only thing she was aware of was her husband—his gentle ministrations on her body, his love for her, his passion for her—and the intense feelings of love and desire she felt for him in return. For the moment, they were no longer part of the real world, but had escaped to their own paradise, where no one existed but themselves…

And as they lay in the afterglow of their passion reminiscent of a pile of naked, boneless limbs, Kaoru clung to him in contentment, never wanting to let go.

She would never admit to him, or anyone else, that she had felt the small piercing of fear's arrow in her heart when she didn't see him coming up behind her in the water that afternoon. She would never tell a soul that she was afraid that he had drowned, and had died, and left her alone in the world once more. She could never express to anyone the amount of relief she felt when she saw him in the water, struggling to set himself free.

There was, however, one humorous aspect to the semi-dramatic ordeal they had faced that day, and Kaoru couldn't help snickering aloud.

"What are you laughing at now?" he asked her in curiosity, his tenor vibrating pleasantly in his chest.

"I'm laughing at the fact that the great Battousai was taken down by a simple tangle of seaweed. How the mighty have fallen," she teased him with a smile.

He shook his head.

"Kaoru, one day…" He trailed off.

"What?" she prodded, blue eyes blinking owlishly.

"…Never mind." And then he kissed her with desire once more.


	7. Snapshot Seven

**From the author's desk: **Hi everyone! I know, I know, I'm late, but here you are: the next "snapshot" in this "album". This one was hard to write, though! I was stumped on how to start. (shakes head) As always, many, _many_ thanks for reading and reviewing my work! I feel much appreciated! Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it as much as you have the previous ones!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned _Rurouni Kenshin_, then Kenshin and Kaoru would have kissed in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I am not so fortunate.

_--------------------------------------------------------------_

_**An Album of Memories  
**_captured by** _IceAngelKaoru_**

_------------------------------------------------------------_

_**Snapshot: Seven  
**__**Label: Wish for the Future  
**__**Note: Kenshin and Kaoru discuss their nervousness about becoming parents.**_

Kaoru groaned in discomfort as she watched the pale, glowing full moon surrounded by the glittering stars from the veranda, her feet dangling over the edge as she leaned against the support beam next to her.

She scowled half-heartedly at her heavily swollen stomach, her left hand resting on her rounded belly as the baby within kicked at its confines.

The scowl dropped from her face, replaced by a tired and slightly pained smile. "You're going to be a bundle of trouble, aren't you?"

The baby kicked at her again in response. Kaoru shook her head in amusement. "You're probably just as bad as your father."

The baby kicked once more, and Kaoru chuckled as the little life within her seemed to finally settle down for the night. She was left to contemplate in silence, the moonlight washing over her in waves of silver light.

She couldn't help feeling that Kenshin was a bundle of trouble. She specifically remembered the week after she had first met Kenshin, when he was cornered by the sword-bearing police right in the middle of town. Shortly after that, Sanosuke had come into their lives, asking for duel. Not long after that came the whole fiasco with Udo Jin-e, and then Shinomori Aoshi and the Oniwabanshuu. And then Saitou came waltzing into their lives, bringing along with him Shishio Makoto and the Juppongatana. And finally, they encountered Yukishiro Enishi and his Rokutai.

Kaoru shook her head. No, it wasn't Kenshin that was the trouble; he just always ended up being the magnet. Trouble seemed to have an odd attraction to her lovable husband.

"Kaoru? Are you all right?"

Speak of the devil.

Kaoru looked up to see her husband standing the doorway behind her, violet eyes gazing at her in worry.

"I'm okay. The baby's finally settled down for the night, and my back and feet are killing me, but I'm all right, otherwise." She smiled and turned back to watch the moon, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the merrily glinting stars peeking through the slight cover of some lazy clouds.

She felt him sit down next to her, and she shifted her body so that her head was in his lap, her back relaxing on the wooden floor, and her legs comfortably outstretched on the veranda.

Violet eyes looked at her amusedly.

"It seems our roles are switched," he commented with a grin, since he was the one who normally pillowed his head on her lap.

"True, but my lap wouldn't be very comfortable for you anyway," she tossed back as she continued to watch the moon and stars, idly indicating her swollen belly.

She gasped suddenly and quickly pointed up. "Look, a shooting star!"

He glanced up briefly, trying to see what she had seen. "It seems I missed it…"

He looked back down at his wife who lay with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together at her chest.

"Kaoru?"

She opened her eyes up slowly, a sweet smile spread broadly across her face as his fingers tangled themselves in her loose black hair.

Kenshin blinked at her, confused.

"I made a wish on that star," she said simply.

"What did you wish for?" he asked her, his curiosity getting the better of him

She looked up at him, the smile disappearing from her face a bit to be replaced with an expression of worry. "I wished…that I would be able to as good a parent to my own child as my parents were to me."

Kenshin watched her quietly, her intent blue eyes swirling with traces of nervous fear and apprehension as she chewed lightly on her lower lip as the fingers of his free hand entwined themselves with those of her own. He brought her hand up to brush a soft lingering kiss across her knuckles before placing their joined hands over her heart.

"I don't know, Kenshin," she murmured with a sigh, her eyes returning to the stars above. "Is it silly that I'm so nervous about becoming a parent?"

"No," he replied, looking up at the star-filled sky. "It's normal, I think. I'm just as nervous as you."

And he was. Not a day went by that he did not wonder what would happen when their child was born. Would he or she be healthy? Would he or she have trouble getting along with the other children? What would he or she look like?

The questions were endless.

"The most we can do is hope for the best," Kaoru said, squeezing his hand gently as she focused on him for a bit before returning her gaze back to the stars, a content smile returning to play across her lips at the feel of his fingers brushing through her hair.

She shifted slightly so that her head was resting more comfortably in his lap, and she felt her eyes getting heavy due to the peaceful atmosphere as they both watched the moon and the stars in between glancing at and admiring each other in the moonlight.

"Kenshin?" she asked, breaking the silence to keep herself awake.

"Hmm?"

"We still haven't decided on a name for the baby."

He chuckled softly and thought a bit, his fingers all the while toying with her long raven hair.

"Well, if it's a girl…how about…Yuriko?"

Kaoru blinked up at him. "Himura Yuriko…I like how it sounds, and it's a pretty name. But what if we have a boy?"

They thought for a moment, admiring the stars all the while.

"Oh! I have one!" Kaoru cried happily.

"What did you think of?" her husband questioned her.

"How about…Kenji?"

Kenshin blinked a bit, allowing the name to roll off his tongue. "Himura Kenji…"

He smiled and gave a firm nod. "It's a good choice."

"I'm glad you think so," Kaoru said, sleepy blue eyes blinking up at him owlishly as she smothered a yawn.

Kenshin chuckled and shifted her so that one arm supported her back and he helped her to her feet. Kaoru sagged against him ready to fall asleep right then and there while he held her. Making sure to hold her steady, Kenshin leaned forward and picked her up under her knees, carrying her bridal-style.

"Kenshin…I'm too heavy," Kaoru mumbled drowsily, her feeble protest accentuated with a weak smack against his chest.

The redhead laughed and kissed her on the crown of her head as she snuggled deeper into the warmth he provided as he carried her to their futon.

"No, you're not," he whispered as he tucked her under the heavy blanket before getting in next to her. He reached over and pulled her against him, his fingers running through her long, loose hair as he hazily eyed the twinkling stars and glowing moon hanging outside the open window.

"G'nagh 'nsh'n. Ah laff oo…" she muttered sleepily.

He chuckled once more and kissed the crown of her head again as he himself settled down for the rest of the night. "Good night, Kaoru. I love you too."


	8. Snapshot Eight

**From the author's desk:** Hello! I'm back with number eight in this collection of mine. First off, thank you, all of you, who read and/or reviewed the last installment. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Next, thank you to **Hitokiri Jinchuu** for convincing me to go with this particular idea, and to **Super Sheba** for putting up with my frustrated ramblings related to this particular installment. It's difficult to write a romantic scene between two characters without making it too cliché or dirty, and I'm afraid the ending of this particular one may have come out a bit on the sappy and unrealistic side. But I'll let all of you be the judge of that. Now ignore my ramblings, all of you, and enjoy this new installment!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned _Rurouni Kenshin_, Kenshin and Kaoru would have kissed in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I am not so fortunate.

**Warning: LIME **content ahead. You have been warned.

**Dedication: **This one-shot is for **Hitokiri Jinchuu**, who convinced me to step out of my freaking box for the once, and **Super Sheba**, my newest partner-in-crime who willingly put up with my insanity these past few days and helped to nudge my inspiration in the right direction. Thank you, both of you, for rocking my world.

* * *

_**An Album of Memories  
**_captured by **_IceAngelKaoru_**

* * *

_**Snapshot: Eight  
**__**Label: First Night  
**__**Note: It's their wedding night, and Kaoru's a nervous wreck.**_

Kaoru awoke with a startled jerk, and looked around the bedroom a bit foggily, admiring the warm glow the candles around the room tossed to the shadows. It really was a romantic set-up.

She blinked, realizing that she had fallen asleep right on top of the futon, still completely dressed save for the heavy make-up she had removed as soon as she'd had the chance.

But what woke her up so suddenly?

She noticed the hush that surrounded the room as she fluidly stood, trying hard not to trip over the hem of her wedding kimono.

A small smile lit her face at the thought, but it turned immediately to a frown.

Where was Kenshin?

The guests had all obviously gone home, and the dojo was empty of the sounds of other people.

Kaoru walked to the window, and stared at the moon-washed landscape in wonder. The stars were bright in the sky, and the light of the moon gave the garden a silver glow. It was a beautiful night, and here she was alone, while her husband was off god knows where…

She frowned and blinked. Someone was watching her, she could feel it.

Slowly, she turned away from the window to see Kenshin leaning against the wall in a far corner of the room, a dreamy and content smile on his face, and his eyes gazing intently at her. The light of the candles danced across his form, throwing him slightly into the shadows.

No wonder she hadn't noticed him the first time. She made a mental note to ask him to teach her to sneak around like that; she hadn't heard a peep from him.

She felt a blush heat her cheeks then, and she turned back to the window, suddenly feeling the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach.

She was married to him now.

This was their first night together.

In the same room.

In the same bed.

Kaoru gulped and clutched the windowsill until her knuckles turned white.

"I'm sorry I startled you," she heard him say aloud, finally breaking the silence between them.

"It's okay," she replied, her voice uncharacteristically soft as she turned slightly away from the window to look at him. "I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep."

"I'm not surprised," he replied, moving away from the wall to walk toward the futon. She noticed his eyes take on a suddenly nervous glint, and she moved toward him.

Unfortunately, Kaoru forgot that the hem of this particular kimono was much longer than the hem of normal kimono, and in her haste, she stepped on the hem. With a surprised yelp, Kaoru found herself falling and colliding with Kenshin, sending both of them tumbling.

Luckily, instead of falling on the tatami floor, both fell straight on top of the futon, with Kaoru lying half on top of Kenshin.

In their tumble, her hair had come slightly undone from the complicated coiffure it had been pinned up in, and several strands of her hair were tugging on her scalp in odd directions, causing her to wince at the slight stings of pain.

She blushed, embarrassed at her mussed state, and tried to maneuver a hand out from her heavy kimono sleeve, only to make it more tangled within the material.

Kaoru glanced at her husband briefly, and found him staring at her, eyes glowing in the dim light of the candles. She felt suddenly aware of their close proximity to each other, and felt the moist heat of his breath ghosting across her cheeks.

She felt him reach up into her hair, and gently extract the lotus-shaped hairpin from her mussed locks, causing her black curtain of hair to cascade down around her face and shoulders. As he ran his fingers through her hair, she felt herself relax and she lowered her head to his chest.

Kaoru smiled contentedly as the sound of Kenshin's steady heartbeat filtered into her ears, and felt herself turn into a happy puddle of mush as he continued to stroke her hair and the strong, crisp scent of pine needles that belonged solely to him captured her sense of smell.

"Kaoru?"

She turned her head to look at him, meeting shining amethyst jewels with her own sapphire eyes.

"Are you still nervous?"

She felt a blush creep into her cheeks again, and found she was unable to meet his intent gaze. Still blushing, she sat up and hid her face behind her hair as she bit her lip, trying to ignore the returned butterflies fluttering in her stomach with a vengeance.

"Kaoru?" His voice was soft and concerned, and his hand on top of hers was comforting. She unconsciously laced her fingers with his and simply let the words trickle from her mouth like water.

"I know I shouldn't be nervous, but I am. It's just…I've never been with a man this way before. I don't know if it's normal, or not, but it's the way it is."

She could feel tears pooling in her eyes, and she turned to face him with her eyes averted away from his, not wanting him to see her weakness.

"I love you. Really, I do. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't, you know that. And I shouldn't be nervous or scared, I know, because I'm with the person I love the most. And I don't know what's stopping me. You've made me the happiest woman in the world today, and here I am a nervous wreck on a night that's supposed to be so special. I shouldn't be nervous, but I am, and I feel like I'm ruining this night, and---"

Kaoru's mind went blank and her eyes fell completely shut as she found herself fully silent at the sudden feel of his mouth on hers, his smoky sweet taste overriding her senses for the moment as she fisted her hands in his gi.

His kiss was gentle and somewhat shy, and she understood that he too was a bit nervous about all this. However something changed and the contact went from apprehensive to passionate and loving in an instant.

The kiss was broken a moment later, and Kaoru found she was breathless and leaning against him for support.

She felt a giggle bubble in her throat at the feel of his breath on her ear as he whispered huskily, "You talk too much."

She felt him wrap an arm around her waist and tug at the large bow that secured the obi around her waist, and gasped when she felt him nibble at her earlobe gently.

Gentle fingers tilted her face upward, and her dark-night eyes met full on with a pair of dusky-sunset hues that no longer held any inhibitions toward her.

All she could see…was love. A love so heavy and strong and pure that it had managed to drive away any doubts and worries with a single kiss.

And Kaoru realized, although a bit belatedly, that she felt the same. No more worries, no more inhibitions, no more fears.

Only an immense amount of love filled her being as she reached up a hand to run her fingers through his tousled red locks before resting her palm against his scarred left cheek.

Kenshin smiled softly at her, swirling amber-violet eyes crinkling at the corners as he rested his forehead against hers, and the warmth spreading through her heart intensified into a blissful flame reminiscent of the bright candles around the room as she gave a tiny smile in return.

"Do you trust me?" he questioned her in hushed tones, his warm breath ghosting across her cheeks, and she smiled at him.

"More than anyone else, even me," she answered back truthfully without hesitation, her voice equally soft as her eyes remained locked with his.

That was all he seemed to need from her before he kissed her once more, leaving her senseless as his unique taste tantalized her taste buds. His nimble fingers freed her of the confining garments she wore, leaving her pale skin bare and glowing in the light of the candles surrounding the room.

She blushed lightly, feeling a little embarrassed as she crossed her arms over her chest and hid within her long raven curtain of hair from the intent eyes of her husband, but gasped in pleasure when she felt his silky crimson hair brush against her cheek and heard his whisper in her ear.

"You're beautiful."

His lips descended upon hers once more in a feverishly passionate yet gentle kiss, and her arms snaked around his neck and shoulders, hands toying with the leather band that held his long titian hair away from his face until the thick mass of locks was a free and fiery waterfall down his still-clothed back.

She gasped again and jolts of pleasure shot up and down her spine as the pads of his fingers traced lazy, feathery patterns along the sensitive skin of her collarbone, her breasts, her stomach, and her thighs, and light, warm kisses followed in the wake of those nimble fingers…

Kaoru couldn't remember when they had receded under the protection of the blankets of the futon, or when his clothes too had been removed from his person. But she remembered his hands and lips caressing every bit of skin she had, his teeth occasionally leaving a small love bite in their wake. She remembered his eyes gazing at her lovingly as they glowed in the dancing light of the dying candles. She remembered the scent of pine needles filling her nose and the feel of his bare skin against hers as her fingernails traced their own patterns along his arms and chest.

And she remembered the small, regretful "I'm sorry" he murmured into her ear, the feeling of the trust she held in him to not hurt her increasing tenfold in her heart, just before the painful yet pleasurable ache which marked their sacred connection as man and wife bloomed like a rose within her as she clung to him for all she was worth.

He took her to heaven and back in those late hours of night with only candles, moonlight and stardust as witness to the holiest of actions between lovers.

And as Kaoru lay molded to him in the afterglow of their actions, she couldn't help but feel how perfect life seemed at that very moment. It was true that she had been nervous and afraid before, but she wasn't any of those things now.

She looked intently at him as they both continued to breathe deeply from the exertion their actions had caused them both, her eyes locked with his own golden-amethyst pools, soft smiles gracing both their faces as he lovingly ran his fingers through her damp dark hair.

To her this man was more than her husband, more than her lover, more than her companion on the road of life that they had begun to face together starting with this night.

This man was her other half, her lifeline, her reason to wake up every morning and breathe the crisp air of a new day.

He was her everything.

"Did I hurt you?" Kenshin's voice was soft, his tone worried and caring, his breathing finally beginning to slow to its normal pace.

She smiled broadly at him, and snuggled closer to his warm body. "A little bit…but it wasn't a pain I didn't want."

Kenshin smiled and kissed her softly on the mouth, the contact relaxed and soothing and full of love and gentle care. She felt his arms tighten around her and hold her flush against his body.

He broke the kiss and she felt him rest his head against hers as she placed her head in the crook of his shoulder while he continued to stroke her hair with one of his hands.

She was beginning to fall asleep when she heard his voice murmur softly into her hair.

"Thank you for making me the happiest man alive."

She smiled into the skin of his shoulder. "And thank you for making me the happiest woman alive."

She felt him kiss the crown of her head. "I love you, Kaoru."

Her smile widened. "I love you too, Kenshin."


	9. Snapshot Nine

**From the author's desk:** Hello everyone! It's been awhile, and college is in full swing as the semester will soon be drawing to a close, which means more work and less time for writing fics. It's disappointing, I know, but this collection is almost complete. There's only one more left, though I don't know when I'll have it out. I guess you'll just have to bear with me. I just want to thank all of you for the lovely reviews I received for the last installment. They made me very happy!

**Dedication:** This one-shot is dedicated to **Hitokiri Jinchuu**, a person I'm glad to call a fellow fangirl. She's the one who beta-read this installment, and helped with ideas for it as well. So if you get a chance, put her name in the search box and go read her stories! They're really great! Oh, and I can't forget **Vic'chonn** (author of **_Although I Can't See You_**); she's a wonderful friend who's had a tough time recently, so this is to make her feel better (hopefully!). And lastly, **Jupe-san** for just being a good friend and reading this over every time I pestered her to.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned _Rurouni Kenshin_, Kenshin and Kaoru would have kissed in the last volume. Alas, I am not so fortunate.

* * *

_**An Album of Memories  
**__captured by** IceAngelKaoru**_

* * *

_**Snapshot: Nine  
**__**Label: Reconciliation  
**_**_Note: Kenshin has a bad day, and Kaoru's comment during dinner only makes it worse._**

Kenshin stood still in the rain and uncharacteristically scowled up at the sky, unhappy violet eyes pleading with the water-swollen clouds, red hair plastered down to his skull and sticking to his forehead, face, and neck.

_Why me, Kami-sama?_

He continued to trudge home in the pouring rain with his mud-soaked clothes sticking to him and making him shiver. He tried not to grimace at the pebble in his tabi that was digging into his foot every time he stepped on it, and his hands tightened on the broken remains of the tofu bucket.

The poor ex-rurouni's day had been horrible from the beginning.

First he had woken up long before he usually did from a disconcerting, and positively frightening, dream about Saitou dressed in a bright pink kimono and winking coyly at him, a cigarette held between red painted lips, long hair that should have been in a topknot done up in a geisha's hairstyle. Needless to say, Kenshin was unable to sleep after that, for fear of seeing something else as, if not more, bizarre as that.

Next, he had ruined breakfast, and he had yet to figure out how that had happened, though he suspected it had something to do with his lack of sleep.

Then the carefully cleaned laundry decided to torture him and fall from the poles holding them up to dry after Yahiko bumped into said poles while escaping Kaoru's wrath. Thus, he was forced to do the entire load of washing a second time. He had a bad feeling it had all been ruined again thanks to the rain.

Then, on his way to the market, he had almost been run over by a carriage. Luckily, he escaped, but the tofu bucket wasn't so fortunate and was crushed under the wheel, which meant that he was unable to buy any tofu for dinner that night.

On his way back from the market, it had begun to rain heavily, and with no shade or awning to take shelter under, and no umbrella, he had no choice but to walk home in the heavy downpour.

His walk, unfortunately, was interrupted once again by a carriage. This time, however, he escaped only to land unsteadily on the edge of the river bank. Unable to catch his balance he had tipped backward and rolled down the bank and landed in a large, murky pit of mud. It had taken him three tries to get out of the mud and onto the road, where he discovered a pebble had gotten itself stuck in his tabi.

And then, of course, there was Kaoru. True, she was a generally temperamental woman and swung from mood to mood quite easily, but the thirty-year-old husband of said woman had come to fear the hormonally-imbalanced and horrendously grouchy Kaoru that made an appearance for one week every month.

And unfortunately for him, hormonally-imbalanced and horrendously grouchy Kaoru had been visiting for the past two days.

Thus he was walking home, covered in mud, dressed in soaked clothes, the remains of a broken and empty tofu bucket in his hands, not looking forward to the verbal lashing he was bound to get for being tofu-less, and not to mention late.

Of course he had a valid reason for being late. It was the main reason he had gone into town today, even though tofu was also a high priority on his "to do" list, and it was the only thing that had gone right today.

The other day he had seen a lovely trinket case in a local shop; it was made of dark cherry wood, and had a hand-painted design of cherry blossom branches all around it. The box came with a small set of lip paint, rouge, and eye powder. Since Kaoru's birthday was coming soon, he had been on the look out for a nice gift for his wife for quite sometime, and he had felt that the trinket box with the make-up set would be the perfect gift for her. Thus, after making sure he had enough money saved from the various odd jobs he'd recently taken up (fixing roofs of local buildings, helping out at Oguni-sensei's clinic, among others), he had gone today to buy it for his wife, and reserve the pick up date.

Still, the gift was supposed to be a surprise, so he couldn't even use it to his defense for being late, but there were the two carriages and the fall down the bank…

Kenshin sighed wearily as the dojo gates came into view, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He really didn't care anymore; all he wanted was a hot bath and dry clothes and a chance to sleep without dreaming of bizarre things such as Saitou dressed in a kimono.

He sneezed a couple times and pushed the gate open, grimacing at the idea that he might be catching a cold, and slipped into the puddle filled yard, intent on heading to the bath house to clean up and get into something dry.

He sneezed again, harder this time, and headed in the direction of the bath, only to be stopped by none other than a very angry-looking Kaoru.

"You're _late_," she hissed, blue eyes flaring as she poked his chest in fury. "The laundry's _ruined_ thanks to you."

He blinked, then gave her a sheepish grin of apology, and went around her into the bath house. On his way, he glanced to where the laundry should have been on their poles, and saw the clothes piled messily back once more into the washing basket.

Kenshin figured that must have been Kaoru's doing and sighed as he quickly washed himself of the dirt and grime and slipped into the warm, water-filled tub for a short soak.

_It isn't my fault that it started to rain._

He was sure someone up in the heavens was laughing at him.

_Who knows? Maybe Tomoe is getting a kick out of this. The afterlife could have changed her sense of humor, after all._

He stepped out of the bath and patted himself dry with a nearby towel. Once done, he dressed himself in a simple, pale blue yukata, collected the pieces of the broken tofu bucket from his pile of dirty clothes and put them into his sleeve, and padded to the kitchen to make dinner. On his way, he passed the bedroom he shared with his wife and saw her sitting in a corner, her head leaning back against the wall and her knees pulled up to her chest, eyes closed but not in sleep.

_Her stomach must be cramping again. Looks like a migraine, too._

As he stepped into the kitchen, he decided that he would make the green tea for dinner that night a little bit stronger than usual. Hopefully, the heat from the hot drink and the strength of the tea would relieve some of Kaoru's body aches.

It didn't take long to make dinner that night, as there was no tofu to cook, and they were apparently running low on vegetables as well; it was just one more thing to add to his list of "Things That Went Wrong Today".

By the time he brought the last of the meal—the green tea—out to the table, Kaoru was already seated on her customary cushion and filling bowls with rice and soup. Kenshin served the tea, they blessed the meal, and began to eat.

He could hear her ranting quietly about his tardiness coming home, and how because of it they were eating much later than they usually would. She complained about the ruined laundry and how she had to go out into the pouring rain to get it. Kenshin was about to take a bite of his rice when she brought up the ruined breakfast from this morning—burnt rice and over-pickled radishes with lumpy miso soup—and he felt his appetite slip away. He chose to simply drink his tea instead.

"Why isn't there any tofu in the soup? And there are usually more vegetables to go with the rice. Why so little today?" she questioned him, an annoyed glare on her face.

He put down his tea cup and looked at her. "Please excuse me. I forgot to stock up on vegetables when I went into town today," he told her plainly.

"That doesn't explain the missing tofu."

He gulped. "Well, in truth, the bucket for the tofu was crushed under a carriage wheel on my way to the market."

Her eyes snapped up to his, and he could see the flames dancing there as she slammed her bowl of soup onto the table. "You're _joking_."

He remained silent.

"Kenshin, that's the stupidest excuse I've ever heard in my life. Don't tell me you couldn't save a bloody _tofu bucket_ from a carriage while _you_ come out just fine."

He froze, shocked at what she had just said. Slowly, he pulled the pieces of the bucket from his sleeve and put them on the table in front of her.

He looked her in the eye once more, and saw the anger lying in the cobalt depths.

"Would you rather it have been me under the wheel?" he asked her softly, quite hurt by what she said.

He shook his head, not waiting for her to answer, and gathered his dirty dishes and retreated to the kitchen to start cleaning up.

He took much longer than he usually would have to clean the kitchen that night. In truth, he was still shocked by what Kaoru had said at the dinner table; he doubted she truly meant the words, but her comment had hurt nonetheless.

Kenshin sighed, and leaned his head against the pantry door, the dish rag hanging limply from his hand. The day was taking a toll on him, and when he sneezed again for the umpteenth time that evening, he decided it was time to call it a night. He quickly wiped down the counter once more to catch any last vestiges of grime from the cooking, cleaned the rag, and hung it on its hook. Glancing around the room one last time, he blew out the candle, slid the door shut, and went to the bedroom to change into his sleeping yukata.

Kaoru was, not surprisingly, already in bed, bundled in the blanket and curled into a ball.

_That position must help with the pain._

He slipped into bed next to her, automatically reaching for her. She flinched away, and he reminded himself that she was not in the best of moods for physical contact.

He lay there for many hours, unable to sleep despite his tired limbs and stuffy head. He frowned at Kaoru's back unhappily, sighed, and got out of bed. Grabbing a spare blanket, he slipped out the door to the veranda, glancing back at a sleeping Kaoru once more before shutting the door. He made himself comfortable against a support post after wrapping himself in the large and fluffy blanket.

He tilted his head back, and looked up at the moon hanging high in the clear and currently cloud-free sky like a jewel on black velvet, the stars twinkling at him merrily.

He sneezed, the action shaking him, and wrapped himself tighter in the blanket.

_She could have at least said sorry._

He sneezed again and rubbed at his nose; he sniffed loudly, feeling clogged and stuffy.

_I hate getting sick._

He yawned, but found himself still unable to sleep. He lost himself by staring up at the moon, and he began to count the stars and pick out different shapes and designs in the sky to pass the time.

Kenshin was so lost in staring at the sky that he didn't notice the light padding of feet behind him until he heard his name being called.

He turned to see Kaoru looking at him, her face unreadable while clutching the haori she wore closer to her body.

"Kenshin? What are you doing out here in the cold?"

He gave her a small, strained smile. "Stargazing."

He sneezed again, and Kaoru sat down next to his feet on the veranda. "Oh."

There was an awkward silence between them for awhile, until Kaoru reached into her haori sleeve.

"I woke up thanks to my stomach," she said. "The cramps are _murder_, I tell you."

Kenshin blushed; true, he knew his fair share of issues that women faced due to their cycles (he could thank Tomoe for that; six months of living with her had taught him more than he wanted to know about mood swings, hormonal imbalance, cramps, and other such things), but it didn't make it any less embarrassing when his wife talked about them so openly.

"Luckily," she continued, taking no notice of his blushing face, "I remembered the extra chocolate I keep around in case of such situations." She pulled a paper-wrapped block of what he assumed to be chocolate completely out of her sleeve, and undid the wrapping in her lap.

She broke off a chunk of the small slab sitting in her lap and slipped it into her mouth, her eyes falling closed in bliss. "Mmm… Sweets are a woman's best friend during her monthlies."

He watched as she broke off another piece, larger this time. To his surprise, she then held it out to him.

"Would you like a piece?" she asked, looking him in the eyes, regret swirling in the azure pools, a shy and guilty smile on her face.

That was all he needed to understand what she was trying to say.

He smiled back at her, genuinely this time, and took the chocolate from her. He held the chocolate in one hand, and tugged her toward him with the other, pulling her easily into his embrace and deftly wrapping the both of them in the blanket. She snuggled into his warmth and they ate their respective pieces of chocolate in a comfortable silence.

When the couple returned to their bedroom, Kenshin was finally able to fall asleep, Kaoru cradled close to him and the taste of chocolate lingering on his tongue.

However, the next morning found Kenshin stuffed, sneezing, and running a fever.

But that's another story entirely…


	10. Snapshot Ten

**From the author's desk:** I'M SO SORRY! I know, I'm several months late in putting this up, but due to a large bout of writer's block, final exams of the semester, and leaving the United States for a month and a half, not to mention moving temporarily to a different state, I was unable to really get into this one. (This particular version is my second attempt at writing this one, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. )

Anyway, my dears, it is time for me to say thank you. I thank each and every one of you for helping me make this collection a success. Thanks to all of you, I have received 11,000+ hits for this piece, and over 100 reviews. Thank you so much.

Alas, this is the final installment of **_An Album of Memories_**, though I will not disappear entirely after this piece. If anyone here reads fiction in the _Law & Order: SVU_ section, be on the look out for a new story by me.

Now go on, and enjoy this final one-shot! See you all in the future!

**Disclaimer:** If I owned _Rurouni Kenshin_, Kenshin and Kaoru would have kissed in the last volume of the manga. Alas, I am not so fortunate.

**Warning:** I've never had a child before (I'm only eighteen), so some factors of the following situation may be inaccurate. Please pardon my lack of experience!

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**_An Album of Memories  
_**captured by**_ IceAngelKaoru  
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**_Snapshot: Ten  
Label: Celebration of Life  
Note: Kaoru gives birth to her first child on the day of a festival._**

She could feel nothing but pain. Burning, searing pain; pain like a million and one knives tearing her apart from the center of her body.

That's really where it hurt the most—the center.

She could hear her screams mingling with the pounding of the festival drums as she clutched the sheets beneath her. She was aware of the perspiration dripping from her body in rivulets, only adding to the discomfort of her position.

Oguni-sensei and Megumi were running to and fro, shouting orders to all the helpers present, seemingly ignoring her completely.

Tears dripped from her eyes—the pain was growing in intensity—and she screamed once more.

Did no one care that she was lying alone in the room, in such excruciating pain that she felt she was going to pass out? Where was her husband? Why wasn't he there to calm her and hold her hand the one time she needed him most?

She squeezed her eyes shut as she cried harder, and clutched the sheets beneath her for dear life.

In the background, the rhythm of the festival drums changed in speed and intensity, the pounding loud and clear and strong, and in the distance, the temple bell sounded sweet and pure into the evening sky.

She kept her eyes shut to the world, and gripped the sheets like a life line. She was uncertain, and scared beyond belief; this was her first time, and she didn't want anything to go wrong and bring a second tragedy to her tiny family.

She heard Megumi tell her gently that it was almost time, that everything was going to be fine, but she was not assured, and the tears fell from her eyes like rain.

Outside, she could hear someone beginning to play a _shakuhachi_, the sweet melody blending faintly into the noise surrounding her as she lay there on the futon.

Megumi was near her again, telling her to be ready, and she shook her head no. No, she could not do this alone; she wanted her husband there. She _needed_ him there with her.

"_He…promised..."_

Megumi was telling her not to be stubborn.

"_No…Not…without him…"_

Suddenly, she heard the melody on the _shakuhachi_ outside climax, blending with the drums and the temple bell and the sounds of the people surrounding her, and like magic, she heard his voice, calling out frantically in the hallway.

And then she felt him kneeling next to her amidst the commotion, the noise around them drowning out anything he might want to say.

She opened her eyes as he took a hold of her left hand—his grip firm and steady, yet gentle and reassuring—as he reached with his other to smooth back her sweaty bangs from her face and wipe the tears from her cheeks. Subconsciously she laced their fingers together, and he covered their joined hands with his other hand.

She looked up at him through her slightly blurry vision, and saw an encouraging smile on his lips and a warm glow in his eyes as he tightened his grip around her hand.

He didn't have to say a word to her as she felt the fear of the nearing future fade away with some of the pain, leaving her shuddering heart beating in simple, unbridled anticipation.

Oguni-sensei was next to her now, telling her it was time as Megumi took her place at the foot of the futon.

She nodded, and when she felt the next pang of excruciating pain slam shockingly to her nervous system, she grit her teeth and bit back a scream as she tightened her own grip on her husband's hand, using the muscles in her pelvic region to push as hard as she possibly could.

Another wave came almost immediately after the first, and in the back of her mind, she hoped her spouse would forgive her for what she was doing to his hand. A third shock of pain crashed into her, and with a final push, she felt her body automatically relax as the high-pitched shriek of a new life filled the room as some of the assistants moved to get her cleaned up.

For a moment, she felt dazed and relieved at the same time as everyone milling around her left her alone, and she continued to tightly clutch his hand with her own as she looked up at him.

She felt her eyes beginning to water again when she saw the look he was giving her as he smoothed her damp locks back away from her face and helped her to sit up and nestle into his chest while his arm wrapped around her still-slightly-round waist.

Gorgeous, glowing amethyst jewels shone with pride for what she had just done, and she felt her heart soar as a couple tears fell from her eyes; she was thrilled to make him so happy.

The moment was lightly interrupted when Megumi came over to them, a bundle of blankets held tightly in her arms.

"Congratulations," she said. "It's a boy."

And then she handed the bundle to her, and she looked at what lay inside the blankets. A tiny child was tucked warmly into the blue blanket, its face small and round and cute, its skin smooth to the touch, and soft downy reddish-brown hair matting its head.

She smiled widely, trying to hold the child even closer to her. She looked at her husband, and giggled lightly at the dazed and awed look on his face as he blinked several times, as if trying to convince himself that he was, in fact, a father now.

His grip around her waist tightened, and he leaned over and kissed her softly on the crown of her head.

"He's perfect, Kaoru. Just like you."

She felt like her face was going to split in two, she was smiling so much. But she didn't care, and settled her head into the crook of his shoulder.

"So are you, Kenshin. Thank you for keeping your promise and being here with me."

He smiled into her hair broadly, and gently whispered into her ear, "We should name him."

She grinned, and looked at her firstborn. "You do it."

She felt him chuckle deeply from his chest, and he lay a hand on his son's head. "Himura…Kenji."

Kaoru nodded with an approving smile, fondly remembering the night they'd spent sitting on the veranda of the dojo just a few months ago as they discussed their fears of parenting and picked out baby names. "Himura Kenji," she repeated fondly.

And as his lips met hers in a sweet and loving kiss, the sky outside the slightly open window lit up in the fireworks that marked the end of the festival's carnival that day as the drums pounded in rhythm as a symbol of the day's celebration.

In the midst of it all, the temple bell tolled once, long and loud and clear, reaching the new parents' ears as they smiled fondly at each other and their new son.

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_**Owari**_

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